Tucson Weekly April 7, 2022

• THE MUSIC ISSUE •

TUCSON

WEEKLY APRIL 7 - 13, 2022 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

Years To Burn

Calexico celebrates a quarter century of making music with a new album

By Linda Ray

Bon Appetit

‘The Whole Enchilada’ recounts the history of desert rock with album, movie, book and concert

By Jeff Gardner

DANEHY: The GOP’s War on Education Continues

CURRENTS: AZ’s New 15-Week Abortion Ban

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APRIL 7, 2022 | VOL. 37, NO. 14

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STAFF

CONTENTS CURRENTS

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Arizona voters will be asked to pass a new law that will make it harder to vote by mail

FEATURE

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Calexico celebrates a quarter century of making music with a new album

CITY WEEK

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Plays, markets, music and art around town this week

MUSIC

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Play It Loud

ADMINISTRATION Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher Michael Hiatt, Vice President

EDITOR’S NOTE

Tyler Vondrak, Associate Publisher, tyler@tucsonlocalmedia.com Claudine Sowards, Accounting, claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com

IT’S NO SECRET THAT I’M A CALEXICO super fan. I first saw them, if memory serves, in the late ’90s in the Airport Lounge, a shortlived downtown basement bar. Since then, I’ve caught their act at more than a dozen local venues (though I don’t think Joey ever managed to pull off that Wig-O-Rama show he once pitched) as well as on the road in NYC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and elsewhere.

The last time I saw them live, I was floating in Caribbean water in Cancun.

So I’m stoked for the upcoming tour in support of the new album, El Mirador. I’ve been listening to an advance copy for a few weeks now and it’s vintage Calexico. It announces itself with horns and drums in the title track and carries the listener through the usual mix of musical styles. Linda Ray gets into the album, which drops Friday, April 8, as well as the long history of the band in this week’s cover story.

Also in our music issue: We are celebrating the release of The Whole Enchilada, a three-album compilation of desert rock recorded between 1978 and 1994. The entire package includes a book of liner notes reliving all that history of such bands as Giant Sand, The Sidewinders, The River Roses, the Dusty Chaps and many others. There will be big show at Hotel Congress on Saturday, April 16, that will include a lot of onstage reunions as well as a screening of a documentary by Maggie Smith, wife of Tucson Weekly columnist Brian Smith.

Managing editor Jeff Gardner tells you all about in a feature story in our music section.

We’ve also got an excerpt from the liner notes

by Billy Sedlmayr, who remembers the wonder of all those late nights in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Elsewhere in the book: Columnist Tom Danehy expresses his disgust with the GOP’s latest efforts to undermine public schools; UA School of Journalism Don Bolles fellow Gloria Gomez reports on the new Arizona law outlawing abortion after 15 weeks; Arizona Mirror correspondent Jeremy Duda looks at the potential impact of a ballot proposition that would throw roadblocks into the path of early voting; Brenda Muñoz of Cronkite News reports on how Attorney General Mark Brnovich is again taking the Biden administration to court, this time over lifting the Title 42 restrictions that made it easier to deport asylum seekers because of COVID issues; calendar editor Emily Deickman tells you where to have a good time this week; XOXO columnist Xavier Omar Otero tells you where to rock this week; and there’s plenty more, so rock on through our pages.

Jim Nintzel Executive Editor Hear Nintz talk about where to have fun in this burg at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday mornings during the world-famous Frank Show on KLPX, 96.1 FM.

EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Managing Editor, jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com Alexandra Pere, Staff Reporter, apere@timespublications.com Nicole Feltman, Staff Reporter, nfeltman@timespublications.com Contributors: David Abbott, Rob Brezsny, Max Cannon, Rand Carlson, Tom Danehy, Emily Dieckman, Bob Grimm, Andy Mosier, Linda Ray, Margaret Regan, Will Shortz, Jen Sorensen, Clay Jones, Dan Savage PRODUCTION Courtney Oldham, Production Manager, tucsonproduction@timespublications.com Ryan Dyson, Graphic Designer, ryand@tucsonlocalmedia.com CIRCULATION Aaron Kolodny, Circulation, aaron@timeslocalmedia.com ADVERTISING TLMSales@TucsonLocalMedia.com Gary Tackett, Account Executive, gtackett@tucsonlocalmedia.com Kristin Chester, Account Executive, kristin@tucsonlocalmedia.com Candace Murray, Account Executive, candace@tucsonlocalmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING Zac Reynolds Director of National Advertising Zac@TimesPublications.com Tucson Weekly® is published every Thursday by Times Media Group at 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona. Address all editorial, business and production correspondence to: Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona 85741. Phone: (520) 797-4384, FAX (520) 575-8891. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN). The Tucson Weekly® and Best of Tucson® are registered trademarks of Times Media Group. Publisher has the right to refuse any advertisement at his or her discretion.

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

“The Whole Enchilada” traces the story of Tucson rock from the ‘70s through the ‘90s

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Social Equity applicant represents target demographics

Calexico band image by Holly Andres

Copyright: The entire contents of Tucson Weekly are Copyright Times Media Group No portion may be reproduced in whole or part by any means without the express written permission of the Publisher, Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, AZ 85741.

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DANEHY

REPUBLICANS AT THE ARIZONA LEGISLATURE ARE FINDING NEW FRONTS IN THE WAR ON TEACHERS

By Tom Danehy, tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com

SORENSEN

ONE TIME, A WHILE AGO, I WAS refereeing a high-school boys’ summer-league basketball game. My partner that day was Brian Peabody, a local highschool and college coaching legend whose exploits are so numerous and varied that he is high on the list of Greg Hansen’s Top 100 Tucson sports legends of all time.

Brian and I were calling the game the way a summer-league game should be called, as though we were those bumper things that they put in the gutters at the bowling alley to help keep little kids’ ball on the lane. During the game, an especially Over-exuberant Parent (if you will pardon the redundancy) was criticizing the calls that we were making and the non-calls that we weren’t making.

As the game progressed through the first half, Obnoxious Parent (he had long since morphed) began chirping more and more, louder and louder. It finally got to the point where Brian went over and asked the guy what his problem was. Ridiculous Parent then launched into a litany of bad and/or missed calls he had witnessed.

After a brief exchange, Brian handed the guy his whistle and shirt. I thought it was

hilarious until I realized that I would have to make virtually every call the rest of the way. And so it went. The guy couldn’t get himself to put the whistle in his mouth, not for sanitary reasons, but for the fact that calling the game for real is exponentially harder than getting everything right from the stands. He didn’t make one call, not even the really obvious ones that happened right in front of him.

With about 10 seconds left and Parent’s son’s team trailing by one, the son goes hard down the lane and gets absolutely massacred. I was about to call the foul, but I held back, partly because the play was happening right in front of my “partner” and partly because my prayers had been answered. In an instant, Loud Mouth Parent because Frozen Parent. His son’s team lost by one.

I thought about that when I read the latest Screw You To Teachers bills currently moving through the Arizona State Legislature.

As part of a frenzied response to the thought that school kids might learn that slavery once existed in the United States, state legislatures all over the country, including ours right here in Arizona, are misusing the

frightening term “Critical Race Theory” to help save small white children (and their large white parents) from hearing about the ugly truths that stained our past, currently infect our present, and will continue to shape our future if our chosen “response” is to try to ignore it.

It’s always insulting when lawmakers think that they’re better than teachers…at anything.

The (unfunny) funny thing about it is that probably not one out of 100 screaming Caucasians could come within an intellectual mile of providing an accurate definition of Critical Race Theory. Indeed, 20 years from now, if you google “Critical Race Theory,” the definition will be “an intentionally misleading and often racist rallying cry used in a cynical manner by worshippers of Donald Trump for strictly partisan political purposes.”

One bill, SB 1211, will require teachers to post all of their lesson plans and any materials they might use in instruction online so that parents can look it over and protest its use (utilizing anything up to, and including, legal action). Proponents of this nonsense keep using the phrase “educational transparency.” But this has always existed. For as long as I can remember (and that’s a long time), parents have been able to contact teachers about what’s going on in the classroom. Heck, a parent can go sit in on his/ her kid’s classes to check things out. This is probably on the embarrassing side for the

student, but it has always been an option.

When my daughter was in high school, she had an AP History teacher who was assigning homework by the pound. A couple other parents and I went to see him, expressed our time concerns (our kids all had a full load of AP classes, plus sports) and the teacher was really cool about it. He came up with a creative response to our concerns. It’s really not that hard. You just have to find the time to do something other than show up at school board meetings in full venom mode.

Perhaps the nastiest part of this whole thing came when bill sponsor Nancy Barto said that forcing teachers to post all of their lesson plans online in advance would actually be a time-saving measure. Yes, weakness is strength, up is down, and spending more time somehow saves time.

A 2019 Department of Education study showed that teachers put in almost 13 hours a week on their jobs outside of school, along with nearly 50 hours a week at school. Having been married to a teacher for decades, I can attest to those numbers, although they seem a bit low.

There’s really only one of two ways that this constant assault on teachers by the Arizona Legislature will end. Either positive trends in demographics will result in the election of lawmakers who value education over fearmongering or the final good teacher will quit to take on a job with better pay and more respect. Walmart is always hiring. ■

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CURRENTS

NO CHOICE

New Arizona law outlaws abortion after 15 weeks

By Gloria Gomez UA Journalism Don Bolles Fellow WITH THE STROKE OF A PEN Wednesday, Gov. Doug Ducey made it illegal for Arizona women to seek an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy even if they became pregnant because they were raped.

The legislation, which will go into effect 90 days after the legislative session ends, was modeled after a Mississippi law that the U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering. Under Senate Bill 1164, doctors would be prohibited from performing the procedure, even if the patient was a victim of incest or rape. Doctors in violation face a class 6 felony and revoked license. A class 6 felony comes with fines, probation and possible prison time up to 5 years.

“In Arizona, we know there is immeasurable value in every life—including preborn life. I believe it is each state’s responsibility to protect them,” Ducey wrote in a signing letter.

Speaking to reporters after an event Wednesday afternoon, Ducey noted the new law doesn’t ban all abortions, just those done after 15 weeks. But if a victim finds out about a pregnancy afterward that time, they’re left without recourse. Ducey said few abortions happen after 15 weeks, so that argument didn’t persuade him.

“I think if you would look at the statistics on what is already happening in our country, you’d find that this is a very reasonable policy,” he said.

While supporters have championed the measure as in defense of children, opponents argue it actually places undue burden on women.

“Banning abortion will do NOTHING to protect babies, but everything to strip Arizonans of their bodily autonomy & self-determination,” tweeted Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe.

The ban comes in the wake of Republican attacks on abortion access across the country, as conservatives anticipate the federal protections will be torn down by the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. A 15week abortion ban in Mississippi is being contested in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s

Health Organization, which observers predict the high court will uphold. Currently, Planned Parenthood v. Casey makes bans earlier than 24 weeks unconstitutional.

Both the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, and Ducey have cited the upcoming Supreme Court case in defending the legislation’s legality. But Democrats in staunch opposition to the measure say its current unconstitutionality opens it up to legal challenges.

“Arizonans won’t stand for this. We’ll see you in court and at the polls,” tweeted Rep. Melody Hernandez, D-Tempe.

Critics say the move is out of step with the opinions of Arizonans and medical professionals.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which advocates for reproductive freedom, denounced Ducey’s approval and said it ignores the varied medical situations women could face.

“Medical professionals in Arizona are against this ban. Nobody asked for this. But Arizona politicians—including the governor today—are willfully ignoring both public opinion and science with the sole goal of stripping constituents of their constitutional rights,” said Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson in a statement.

NARAL Pro Choice America, an abortion rights group, said the bill is incongruent with the actual opinions of Arizonans statewide, citing a survey which found 71% of respondents oppose making abortion illegal, and 90% agree that family planning should be left up to individuals, without government interference.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs echoed this in a statement her office released shortly after Ducey’s, condemning his action.

“With Gov. Ducey’s signature, our elected leaders have chosen to turn their backs on the overwhelming majority of Arizonans who support the constitutional right to choose. Make no mistake — stripping away women’s constitutional rights won’t stop women from seeking access to reproductive health care,” Hobbs, who is running as a Democrat to replace Ducey as governor, said. ■

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CURRENTS

BALLOT BARRIERS

Arizona voters will be asked to pass a new law that will make it harder to vote by mail

By Jeremy Duda Arizona Mirror A 1,300% INCREASE IN THE NUMBER

of absentee ballots that get rejected under a new voter ID law in Texas could provide a cautionary example for Arizonans in November when they decide whether to enact similar requirements for early voting.

Republican lawmakers referred a measure to Arizona’s general election ballot that, if approved, will impose new ID requirements for the overwhelming majority of voters who cast early ballots in this state.

Currently, people who cast early ballots must sign an affidavit on the envelopes they use to mail or return their ballots. Election officials compare them to signatures from voter registration files to verify their identities. Senate Concurrent Resolution 1012 would add new elements to the process. In addition to their signatures, voters would have to write their birthdates and either their driver’s license number, other state ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

Arizona’s proposed voter ID measure is similar to a new law in Texas. A provision of SB1, a wide-ranging law enacted last year, requires people who vote by absentee ballot to include either a state identification number or the last four digits of their Social Security, similar to what SCR1012 would require in Arizona.

The March primary election was the first time Texas used the new voter ID requirements for absentee ballots, and the results should serve as a cautionary example for Arizona or any other state considering similar requirements, said Daniel Griffith, the director of policy for Secure Democracy USA, a nonprofit voting rights organization that’s active in 19 states, including Texas.

In the 2020 elections, about 1% of all absentee ballots were rejected in Texas,

Griffith said. Election experts typically like to see that number at no higher than 2%. But in the March 2022 primary election in Texas, that number hit 13% on account of the new ID requirements for absentee ballots, leaving nearly 23,000 absentee ballots uncounted, according to The Associated Press.

Preliminary evaluations indicate that more than 90% of those rejections were because voters put the wrong information on their absentee ballots.

SIMILAR, BUT NOT IDENTICAL The Texas law and the proposed law in Arizona are not perfect comparisons.

There are notable differences, some of which could indicate that Arizona might not see problems on a similar scale.

One of those differences is in how election officials deal with early ballots that don’t have the required information. Texas gives election counties the option of contacting voters to let them know their absentee ballots have issues that need to be remedied, Griffith said.

Voters can fix those issues in person, or void their absentee ballots and come in to vote in person. Some counties gave voters up to six days after the election to fix the issues with an affidavit.

The Texas law is supposed to allow voters to fix issues with their absentee ballots online, particularly the problems with the ID numbers. But Griffith said it’s not clear that some counties actually did so.

Conversely, all counties in Arizona are currently required to contact early voters if their signatures don’t appear to match and give them up to five days to remedy the problem, a process known as curing. That requirement would extend to ID numbers under SCR1012.

If 13% of Arizona early ballots were rejected like happened in Texas, it would mean nearly 396,000 ballots wouldn’t

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have been counted in 2020.

Though the Texas law includes curing processes, there have been logistical problems because they were being implemented for the first time.

“Perhaps Arizona wouldn’t experience that because they’re used to the cure process,” Griffith said.

Another problem that emerged in Texas is that not all voter registration files have both an ID number and a Social Security number—voters have the option to use either, Griffith said. But if they use a number that’s not in their file, election officials can’t match them.

That could also be a problem in Arizona, however. Jennifer Marson, executive director of the Arizona Association of Counties, said most voters have driver’s licenses on file, and some have Social Security numbers. But if voters put information on their ballot affidavits that election officials don’t have on file, the counties will have to take extra time to cure those voters’ ballots.

“And then it’s a question of: Can we cure them in time?” Marson said.

SCOPE OF EARLY VOTING IN ARIZONA COULD MEAN A MUCH BIGGER IMPACT In other ways, Arizona’s proposed law could cause more problems, Griffith said.

Arizona voters would be required to include more information than Texas voters. While Texas voters still must sign their ballot affidavits, Griffith said it’s a “gray area” as to whether verification is required. He said SB1 created a presumption that if the ID numbers matched, the signatures were valid.

SCR1012 doesn’t eliminate the requirement that signatures be verified.

Voters’ signatures would still have to match, as would the date of birth and ID number. With more data points that must match before a ballot could be counted, there are more ways for it to be rejected.

Probably the biggest reason that early voter ID could cause more problems in Arizona than in Texas is that early voting is so much more prevalent here.

So, a 13% rejection rate for early ballots

in Arizona would affect far more voters than in Texas.

Roughly 89% of the 3.42 million ballots cast in the 2020 general election were early ballots. If 13% of Arizona early ballots were rejected, it would mean nearly 396,000 voters wouldn’t have their ballots counted.

Because Texas limits early voting to people over 65 years of age, people who are going to be out of their home counties during the early voting period and Election Day, people with disabilities, and people who are confined due to medical or mental health reasons, absentee ballots accounted for only 13% of that state’s ballots cast in the March primary. That meant only 23,000 Texans saw their ballots tossed, even with the higher rejection rate.

Arizona has allowed no-excuse early voting since 1991, and implemented its Permanent Early Voting List in 2007.

The result has been that most Arizona voters use early ballots, either mailing them in or dropping them off at polling places.

“I cannot think of a way that this is

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not going to be a more time-consuming process than what already occurs in terms of ballot verification in Arizona,” Griffith said.

Griffith said voter education is key to avoiding the kinds of problems that Texas saw. States that enact such requirements should also ensure that election officials have enough time before they go into effect to update voter registration records, and to provide sufficient guidance and training for counties.

“I would say advice number one is don’t do it at all, in terms of the ID number. But if you’re going to, you need to take plenty of time to make sure that you have covered all of your logistical bases as far as how it’s going to be implemented and have minimal impact on the ability of voters to make sure their ballots are counted,” Griffith said.

“It’s something no one should rush into, and everyone needs to tread carefully in terms of how this sort of system is structured.”

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CURRENTS

BORDER BATTLE

Arizona among three states suing to block Biden from ending Title 42 for asylum seekers

By Brenda Munoz Murguia Cronkite News ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL MARK

Brnovich is suing the Biden administration for deciding last week to lift Title 42, the policy that closed the border to migrants and asylum seekers as a public health and safety measure during the pandemic.

The lawsuit, which also has Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt as plaintiffs, argues that President Joe Biden violated federal procedures that require publishing notices of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register, and that most policies have a 30-day delayed effective date.

The suit, filed Sunday in the U.S. Western District Court of Louisiana, seeks to halt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determination that migrants at the southern border are “no longer a serious danger to the public health” and to keep Title 42 in place.

The lawsuit says the plaintiffs are challenging “an imminent, man-made, self-inflicted calamity: the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this Administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated chaos and catastrophe.”

Since the Trump administration invoked Title 42 in March 2020, more than 1.7 million migrants have been turned away at the border—more than 300,000 of them in Arizona.

The Biden administration said it would begin receiving asylum cases as of May 23. Title 42 for unaccompanied minors ended last month.

In a news release, Brnovich claimed that revoking Title 42 would create a surge at the southern border that would overwhelm law enforcement agencies, and Arizona would be at a major risk for drug trafficking and cartel activity.

“If Title 42 ends, it will result in an even greater crisis at the border that will have a devastating impact, not just on border states, but across the country,” he said in a tweet Monday.

Brnovich, who’s running for U.S. Senate, and the other attorneys general are Republicans, but the lawsuit notes that some Democrats are against lifting the ban as well, including Arizona’s two senators.

“This is the wrong decision,” Sen. Mark Kelly said in a statement Friday. “It’s unacceptable to end Title 42 without a plan and coordination in place to ensure a secure, orderly and humane process at the border.”

The Department of Homeland Security says it has a plan for processing migrants that will address the expected jump in cases being processed at the border. It includes adding agents and volunteers to handle bottlenecks, expanding central processing centers and spending more money on soft-sided centers, medical care and transportation.

But the lawsuit notes that even DHS says in its plan that the immigration system is “fundamentally broken.”

Arizona state Rep. César Chávez, who also wants a better plan to handle the surge, said Monday that suing the Biden administration doesn’t provide any solutions to the ongoing issue.

“I find it very unfortunate that the statewide Republicans would go down that route rather than reaching out to the Biden administration or (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas and having a further conversation on what it is that we need to do to mitigate the issues that we have at the border,” he said. ■ This article was produced by Cronkite News. Find more stories at cronkitenews. azpbs.org

BALLOT BARRIERS

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THERE WILL BE A ‘LEARNING CURVE,’ BUT NO REAL HARM, SPONSOR SAYS Sen. J.D. Mesnard, the Chandler Republican who sponsored SCR1012, said he can’t speak to the specifics of Texas’s new law, but said it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison to the proposal that Arizonans will decide on in November.

Mesnard acknowledged that there could be problems at first, but said there are ways to mitigate them. He noted that Arizona has a robust curing process for early ballots. Voter education could also lessen any negative consequences.

“Can you have a bump in the road here and there? I suppose. Heck, there are rejected ballots now. I think that this overall makes the system better. And, at the end of the day, there can be a learning curve. And you just pursue that,” Mesnard said.

Helen Purcell, a Republican who served as Maricopa County recorder from 1989-2016, expressed concern that Arizona voters might not read the instructions they get from their county election departments or might otherwise err in complying with the early voter ID requirement.

“They think they know it. Well, they’ve been doing this for years, so why not do it the same way?” Purcell said.

Voter education would be critical to avoiding problems, said F. Ann Rodriguez, Pima County’s former Democratic county recorder, who held the position from 1993-2020, serving, like Purcell, for 28 years. She likened it to the educational campaign that followed the passage of Proposition 200, a 2004 ballot measure that requires Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship and show photo ID to vote in person.

“It’s an educational problem and they’ll have to do a major PR campaign,” Rodriguez said. “At first, there are going to be some issues.” ■ This article originally appeared in the Arizona Mirror, an online nonprofit news agency. Find more reporting at azmirror.com.

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Waltzing Around

Calexico celebrates a quarter century of making music with a new album

By Linda Ray

PHOTO BY HOLLY ANDRES

By Linda Ray tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com LET’S TALK ABOUT THE JAVELINA in the room. Can we even call Calexico a Tucson band anymore? Social media apparently wants to know. Joey Burns grimaces about a recent thread.

Chatting on Zoom like old friends, Burns and I revisit the first interview we did 25 years ago, down the road in Barrio Viejo. At the time he was raving about vocalist Susana Baca and her Afro-Peruvian sound. He says David Byrne (yes that David Byrne) had put him onto it.

We have lots to catch up on, and when today’s interview is over, we have a hard time saying goodbye—me in my home office by the ever-shifting Pantano Wash, Burns at his 10-year-old daughter’s manual typewriter in his Boise, Idaho kitchen.

Of course it’s been years since John Convertino moved to El Paso. At least it’s a border town, but, as Burns points out with a laugh, Convertino’s also lived on the East Coast, Oklahoma, Alaska and California, where the two met. “He’s the

Jack Kerouac of the group.”

We talk about the upcoming tour behind the April 8 release of the duo’s new Calexico record, El Mirador. It’s being released by respected Berlin indie label, City Slang, home of Caribou, Lambchop and Nada Surf. The band will visit close to 30 cities, mostly in Europe, before returning to the Rialto Theatre on June 19, Father’s Day. Burns and Convertino began playing as a duo in the mid ‘90s when they were backing Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. They sometimes opened as a duo. During gaps in touring, they also sat in with fellow Tucsonan Bill Elm’s Latin-tinged, Santo and Johnny-esque Friends of Dean Martinez. And they picked up side projects backing others. Americana artist Richard Buckner was early among them, as was Tucson chanteuse Marianne Dissard and French shoegazer-like locals, The Amor Belhom Duo. Soon they began a far-flung, pan-genre adventure including projects in Spain with Jairo Zavala’s DePedro and Amparo Sanchez’ Amparanoia, and, in the U.S., Sam Beam’s Iron and Wine; Neko

Case; Victoria Williams; Pieta Brown; Amos Lee; Tom Russell; Kevin Costner; Richmond Fontaine; The Gotan Project; The Solace Brothers; Laura Cantrell; Los Super Seven; Nancy Sinatra; Evan Dando; Shannon Wright (check this one out for its abstract, dissonant soundscapes); Buffalo Tom’s Bill Janovitz ; Jack Smith and Rockabilly Planet, Tortoise spin-off, Brokeback and, most improbably, early 1900s song and dance star Ruby Keeler.

Apologies to everyone omitted here.

So it speaks to a formidable work ethic that in the same time span they produced close to 20 full albums, not counting a couple of tour-only releases. That’s all since 1996 when Chicago’s powerhouse indie Touch and Go released Calexico’s demo, Spoke, on its Quarterstick imprint.

“I’ve always played music,” Burns says.

“But as I got older, I continued to want to hear other sounds and other rhythms and genres. I feel like (El Mirador) kind of encapsulates a lot of that searching, not just in and around the border region of the Southwestern United States, but really looking to the world as well. That’s the beauty of a band like this. It’s not just

a regional thing. It really is, and has been, embracing the world.”

FOR ALL OF THAT, EL MIRADOR IS an extravagant celebration of Calexico’s genesis from here. Burns says some of it was an inspired return to the vibe of the band’s 1998 Quarterstick release, The Black Light. The music is certainly as Sonoran-sounding a collection of songs as Calexico has ever released—at least metaphorically. Did you know that the Sonoran Desert has the largest number of species of any desert in the U.S.?

Tucson multi-instrumentalist Sergio Mendoza, of the popular local mambo project Orkesta Mendoza, has long been a principal member of Calexico, live and on record. In the El Mirador credits, he is recognized as lead producer, listed above even Burns and Convertino.

All of the record’s live production took place in Mendoza’s home studio, and because of COVID lockdown, Burns stayed in his home for several live sessions.

Convertino visited for the first two sessions. A cadre of top Tucson musicians,

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joined them in the studio, and a host of other long-time collaborators contributed tracks and overdubs for Mendoza and Burns to mix in.

“It was incredible returning to Tucson after moving away,” Burns says. “Sergio picked me up at the airport. We went to Tacos Apson. I melted immediately back into the beauty (here). I asked him to drive me past our old house so I could see it again with the lights on. It was great just to kind of touch the places where I left off.

“Most of the time we were cooking for ourselves. John came in for the first two sessions. He brought his 1950s Pavoni, Italian espresso machine, and wow! You know, something about the aesthetics really mattered to John. He’s influenced the rest of the band. I think we all sort of share that love of things that are unique.”

In Spanish, El Mirador means “The Lookout,” Burns says it’s not so much about looking out. In a way it’s also about “looking inside and examining where your heart is and your thoughts, your . . . soul.”

Burns is prone to considering all

aspects of an inspiration—layer by layer, its colors, its moods. In imagining its musical expression, he wants to blur the lines and distort the boundaries, finding collaboration among disparate sounds.

“I try to bring the chaos and the noise factor,” he says.

A video for El Mirador, the song, is charmingly animated with a spectral cartoon character, sombrero-topped and seemingly lost between between life and death. The instrumentation suggests a trepidation, even hesitation, but not fear.

The mood is not so much bewilderment but cautious curiosity. What is this lighthouse in the arid depths of a shape-shifting inland desert? What challenges await?

But El Mirador, the record, changes up songs and moods throughout, exploring dimensions of moods and conditions. For example, its two tender and emotionally driven love songs explore opposite yet inextricably related dimensions of intimate relationships.

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sound. Lyrical, melodic, liberal, it creates plenty of space and porosity in its borders. That makes it an ideal medium for Burns’ own most consistent ideals for the The first, “Constellation,” is a sparkling band: building community and aggregating new sounds. His muse is restless promise of eternal love as seen looking upward as if from a Tucson rooftop: They and peripatetic. Diversity makes room for new connections. can see stars. “In these arms/we call our Frequent Mendoza collaborator Camilo home/If not for love/we’d never know.”

Lara (of Mexico City) also plays and A few tracks later, “Caldera” finds the earns production credits elsewhere on starry-eyed lovers at a low point, knees Mirador, but “Cumbia del Polvo” feaon the ground, hands in the clay, their dream now lost to them. Yet the title itself tures his entire band, Mexican Institute of Sound. They amp up the cumbia reminds us that this mood could be tranenergy with their punk disco mariachi sient. A caldera is a miles-wide, Sonoran sensibilities. Gaby Moreno (Guatemala Desert shallow where the most valuable City) provides backing vocals. Among minerals are found—uranium, turquoise Tucson’s favorite Calexico collaborators, and especially the shiny, durable and Jairo Zavala (Madrid), who has opened PHOTO BY HOLLY ANDRES enduringly practical copper. for them here, sings and plays with his The instrumental track, “Turquoise,” “I’m trying to just have a good time with my friends, play music and at the same time, band, DePedro, on the rousing “Cumbia kind of examine where we are as a people, as a planet,” said Calexico’s Joey Burns. could be another dimension of the “Bisbee Blue” variety celebrated in Calexico’s Peninsula.”

“There’s a lot of cumbia,” Burns says of wrote the music as he read it line by line. between dark and light and melancholy 2006 release, Garden Ruin. “Turquoise” the record. “Rhythm is that great connec“I just love her insight, love her phrasing,” and celebration, or, acknowledging chalbrings yang-like grounding to the poppy, tor, the unifi er.” lenges and looking at other characters in He says “It’s always enjoyable to co-write sing-along yin of the earlier track. It Sam Beam of Iron and Wine provides with her because she’s able to do things I our world and shining a light on them.” reminds us that there’s much more to an almost ethereal haunting backing can’t. She’s a badass, too.”

In our first interview around 1996, the semi-precious gem than its coveted vocal on the take-it-down track, “Harness Burns told me, simply, “Sometimes it’s Brown’s El Paso lyrics are a free-form, pure blue surfaces. It’s mostly irregularthe Wind.” Burns and Convertino have chiaroscuro of dark bits of history in great to write music to other people’s ly lumpy, shot through with dark veins toured with him and collaborated on two ashes and the feather-light promises of words.” At the time, he would often turn as unpredictable as the web of a Black albums. to his brother to help compose lyrics that renewal. Burns says, “I like how the tenWidow spider.

Of the song, Burns says, “I think sion builds throughout the song. (Then) would tell the story of the mood and the Turquoise evolved from a session in because of where we’ve come through . . . the bridge breaks down just how hard vision his music evoked. which Convertino was experimenting (since 2020) there was a lot of questionborder issues are, but finding the truth For El Mirador, he turned to the poetry with new tunings, finding fresh expresing what we hold to be true on the perthere as well.” of singer-songwriter Pieta Brown. Now sions for his drums. Like everything else sonal and societal levels. In ‘Harness the Burns acknowledges that much of living in El Paso, she befriended the band in Calexico sessions, the exercise was Wind,’ there’s this quality in the writing El Mirador’s heavier content bears the when she lived in Tucson early in their being recorded. Burns stepped in and or in the character where things are not weight of our times. “I tried to contrast career. Burns says, “Pieta has a really started riffing, complementing the musithe tempos and the rhythms and dynambeautiful way of interpreting things. It’s cality of the drum tunings and the tempo working out, but somebody has helped turn this character around and lifted ics of the band, performing more like we always interesting to have those connechis partner was suggesting. them up. For me, that’s always going to be tions with people where you don’t have would in a live show with lyrics that are Convertino’s singular drumming style, at the heart of what we do—that balance often looking underneath things, trying to say much or explain much at all. Pieta Burns says, defines Calexico’s signature to find what’s going on not only emois like that friend who gets it right away, tionally, within ourselves, but with our who understands the aesthetics. community, where we are now.”

“She mentioned that she wanted to For Burns, the touchstone song on El get together with John and me, and had Vegetarian & Vegan Entrees * A Sanctuary in the City Mirador seems to be the festive family carved out a couple songs. She said ‘Let’s Join us on Sunday, see what you guys do with these, whatev- gathering that is “Liberada.” He keeps th er you want to do with them.’ A friend like coming back to it to illustrate everything April 10 from 5:30 to 8 pm that is incredibly helpful for someone like he wanted the record to represent. for Ram Fest 2022 “Sergio put on some beautiful piano me. I generally write the music first and Indian Dance, Fire Acrobats, Temple Ceremonies, parts in kind of a more Afro-Cuban style,” it just so happened that (Brown’s poem) Kids’ Activities & Free Feast served at 8 pm.

Burns says. “That just took it to another ‘Then You Might See’ fit beautifully.”

Everyone is welcome! place. It made me think about the time “You Might See” limns a shadowed (Spanish vocalist) Amparo Sanchez took heart divided by the border: “Mary at Dine In or Take Out - Spacious Patio Dining 711 E. Blacklidge Dr. • 520-792-0630 See complete menu at govindasoftucson.com E. of 1st Ave., 2 Blocks S. of Ft. Lowell John and me to Havana, Cuba to record the window/crying love is blind.” Burns

WALTZING AROUND

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and play. We got to hang out and we went to a party. It was just at (a) relative’s house for an uncle who was turning 80. Despite all that’s going on in the world, for years or recently, it just made me realize that we have to celebrate life.

“So on that song, ‘Liberada,’ we wrote the chorus first, which is like, “There’s a party, everybody come on over, my uncle’s turning 80. He can still shake it. And then, to all the ladies, we hand out flowers and we’re dancing.’

“We brought in Johnny Contreras (long-time Calexico collaborator and director of Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School), and it was such a great day.

We had this beautiful break where we just got to hang out. Johnny’s a very positive individual, as you might know.

“Then he called up Tony (Antonio Pro aka El Flash) to come in and play some guitarrón, and both of them just did gritos over the whole song. Then he called David Gill (coach of Amphitheater High School’s Mariachi Sol Azteca) to come in and play violin. Then David brought some of his students.”

Burns beams while telling that story. It clearly has everything he loves, community, collaboration and a couple of decades’ evolution in live performances.

He says that now the songs feel “all bottled up”. Then he backtracks. “Not bottled, but I feel like . . . we did some rehearsing and . . .when we started playing them, I was like ‘We need to stretch these things out because they feel like they’re finely crafted and bottled for me to uncork and let breathe.’ So the next step is just taking them on tour. We really need the touring aspect to bring in more of that chaos and dissonance and be more experimental.”

ON TOUR, CALEXICO WILL comprise seven musicians—a lot to corral, especially when improvising. All must be listening like bandits, and lesser musicians might be, possibly should be, daunted. But Burns celebrates mistakes.

“Improvising—sometimes it’s hard,” he says. “But if you kind of designate that it’s okay to make a mistake, or just say ‘Once we get to this song, let’s have a section where nobody knows what’s

gonna happen.’ As long as people know that, they can take a break or dive in and lead the way.”

Burns’ longing for the road is palpable, and not just for the sake of musical alchemy, although crowd energy makes the magic come together. Burns misses the band’s global family.

“Coming out of COVID, it just felt like we had missed not only Tucson, but we missed touring and playing live. I missed that energy. This project and this album are very much about just wanting to connect with friends and community—like bringing he family together again. These themes of coming together, this combination of language, music, instrumentation—that openness has been at the core of who we are.

“There have been those moments in the pandemic, and now what’s been going on in Ukraine. We see those moments when people sing or play together. It’s truly just, it’s emotional.

“I don’t ask myself too many questions.

Like, ‘Why are you doing this? How come you did that? Or where are you gonna go next?’ I’m trying to just have a good time with my friends, play music and at the same time, kind of examine where we are as a people, as a planet.”

So is Calexico still a Tucson band? How do you feel about our native pollinators-our Monarch butterflies, our Rufous hummingbirds, or, for the laugh, our lesser long-nosed bats? Calexico is another treasured Sonoran pollinator. They carry our gifts far and wide and come back with unique and priceless souvenirs. Be on the lookout. ■

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Editor’s Note: While we are delighted to see Tucsonans once again gathering for fun events, we are also aware that variants are in circulation. Please consider getting vaccinated against COVID if you haven’t yet.

Mercado Flea. It’s hard to believe that Mercado Flea season is almost over, because, starting in June, we will all be hiding inside of our air-conditioned houses. All the more reason to get out and enjoy open-air events while we still can. At the Mercado Flea, check out antiques, vintage items and other collectibles from 45 different vendors. It’s a lovely way to spend a morning, especially if you treat yourself to some coffee, pastry or breakfast from one of the nearby options. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 10. Parking lots and sidewalks on Avenida Del Convento between Congress and Cushing Streets in the Mercado District.

Kate Breakey: Transience. Come see the Etherton Gallery’s last exhibition of the 2021-22 season! Kate Breakey loves what she calls the “natural disorder of things”: a wilting flower, the random patterns on a rattlesnake’s skin, a patch of grass struck by a ray of light. Her lovely photographers come together with paint, pastel, embroidery, silk, glass and more to represent the transient. The gallery is also presenting an exhibit by Paul Hart, who has spent more than a decade photographing the Fens, a reclaimed marshland in eastern England.

Some truly gorgeous pieces here that offer some tranquility in ever-hectic times. Reception is 7 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, April 9.

Etherton Gallery, 340 S. Convent Ave. Dream Interpretation Class. Have you ever had a dream that you invited your friends over for dinner and then after they showed up, the doorbell rang and some friends from college you haven’t seen in years were there, and then a couple who you knew from high school but never really spoke to arrived, and then some strangers let themselves in and you had to figure out what to feed everyone for dinner? Well, I have, and I wanna know what it was all about. Whatever kind of dreams you’ve been having lately, this two-hour, in-person class with Alice Vath will help you learn to better remember and interpret them.

Alice will also talk about what happens in our bodies when we sleep and what roles

dreams play in our lives. 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 7. The Ninth House, 2569 E. Fort Lowell Road. $60.

Justice. The latest show at Arizona Theatre Company is about some seriously powerful women. The plot follows Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s arrival to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Sandra Day O’Connor shows her the ropes. It’s a three-person musical that also features a character named Vera, who is rising through the ranks of the law world. Sweeping songs

by Kerrigan and Lowdermilk come together beautifully with important conversations about law, civil rights, kids, dreams and sorrows. As RBG once said, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” Preview shows ($25 to $58) start Saturday, April 9, and opening is Friday, April 15 ($40 to $73 after opening night). Runs through Saturday, April 30. Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.

by Emily Dieckman Sons of Orpheus 30th Annual Gala Spring Concert. There’s lots to celebrate in this show by Tucson’s longest established men’s choir, including 30 years for the choir and a belated 250th birthday party for Beethoven. Choral works will also include the works of Ketelbey and Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as guest solos by Ivan Duran on clarinet, tenor Topher Esguerra, soprano Lindsey McHugh and Andrew Nix on violin. 7 p.m.

Wednesday, April 13. Community Performance and Art Center, 1250 W. Continental Road, Green Valley. $15.

Samskara + Art Universe. In Indian philosophy, samskara can be literally translated to “putting together, making perfect, preparing” or “sacred or sanctifying ceremony.”

More generally, it’s used to talk about impressions and psychological imprints from your subconscious or past lives. It makes for a fascinating theme for a mind-bending digital art experience by Android Jones, coming to Flandrau this weekend. Kaleidoscopic imagery and trip-hop beats by music producer Tipper come together for a bind-bending experience. Paired with “Art Universe,” a planetarium show with artists like Craola, Chris Saunders and Risk visiting visually distinct “planets,” these shows make for an unforgettable time. Shows play back-to-back and ticket price includes both. 8 p.m.

Thursday, April 7, through Saturday, April 9, with an extra showing at 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Made in Tucson Market. Three cheers for outdoor markets! And three more cheers for those that are entirely made up of Tucson artists who make their goods locally. Come celebrate localism, community, art and sustainability at this market, featuring an array of jewelry, art, food, clothing, candles, plants, artisan soaps, and way more than could ever fit in a City Week blurb. We love an event hosted by our good pals at the Historic Fourth Avenue Coalition. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, April 10. Seventh Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenue.

Gootter Grand Slam. Tennis superstars, an auction, an alfresco dinner and gala, and the chance to support heart health, all in one night? The Steven M. Gootter Foundation has raised millions for research into sudden cardiac death at the UA Sarver Heart Center for the last 17 years. This event features an exhibition match featuring the UA Men’s tennis team, followed by the UA head football coach Jedd Fisch and UA head men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields taking on the Bryan brothers—the winningest doubles team in the world. Then a dinner featuring an international buffet and a talk

by Murphy Jensen, who will receive the Gootter Foundation Philanthropic Award and speak about his own recent experience with sudden cardiac arrest. 4 p.m. Sunday, April 10. La Paloma Country Club, 3660 E. Sunrise Drive. $300.

Tony Frank Quartet at the AC Hotel Lounge. There’s nothing like jazz on a Friday night. This week, Tony Frank is downtown, bringing his skilled vocals, masterful trumpet and all-around good vibe to the AC Hotel. He’ll be backed by Jamar Harmon on the keys and Selwyn Reams on the bass.

Tony Frank has been playing for decades, and has even been a finalist in the Weekly’s Best of Tucson voting. Jazz, blues, Latin music and drinks will all be flowing, so don’t miss out! 7 p.m. Friday, April 8. AC Hotel, 151 E. Broadway Blvd. Free.

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MUSIC

COURTESY PHOTO

ROCK & ROLL MEMORIES Remembering the days and nights of The Pedestrians

By Billy Sedlmayr tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com Editor’s note: This article is excerpt from the liner notes accompanying The Whole Enchilada, a three-album compilation of Tucson desert rock from 1978 to 1994. Read more about the compilation on page 16.

DAVE SEGAR AND I GREW UP BENEATH TUCSON’S Santa Catalinas. Went to school together, played sports, chased girls, but mainly we lived on rock & roll. When we was spose’d to be listening to the teacher about math, we was drawing pictures of guitars, drums, hi-heels. Dave, far back as I remember, had this white fender bass, man, we played and played, it just happened. The AM radio we grew up on had pop, soul, country, and later jazz, the fusion stuff. Van Christian’s father had an 8-track, Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way, Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters. As a drummer, I was putting all these genres together. Dave and me both had feet in all these camps. Tucson drummer great Fred Hays was teachin’ both Van and I, and we’d see these rock & rollers blow through the house, on and off tours. There was a lot of territory and we took it.

We had our first band, Dave, Van and me, played dances at our junior high. And once we played Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’” twice. Spent our freshmen year in the tunnels beneath Tucson High, smokin’ grass and paring down the black widow population. We were M.I.A. and by the next fall we’d be entered into Canyon Del Oro high, where we met John Venet—a Detroit transplant with a Gibson SG, dirty but inspired, with a constantly burning Marlboro in his mouth.

We practiced at my folks’ house mainly, a purple room overlooking the desert, down to the downtown federal building. We were mostly an anomaly of kids drawn to a six-minute jam of Thin Lizzy’s “Little Girl in Bloom,” and

we’d hit a real gem like Styx’ “Madame Blue.” Ha-ha, man, ain’t no dispensation from uncool at 15.

We was a trio, we’d find space, and at that age you fill it.

Only show I remember was round the time I had to move out of my folks’ house, pumping gas and back at Tucson High night school. Our first real barnburner, some Friday night in the desert north of town—a boonie party, drunk, loud, six kegs of beer—opening for some particularly snotty kids who’d developed a show ripped from some big bad road band. And on their first crashing power chord, everything blew, and you could smell wire burning.

It was on.

Later in ’78, we ran into Chris Cacavas again. Like the rest of us, he was eating rock & roll for breakfast—you come to recognize your own kind. We didn’t audition him, he just stayed on for the ride. His was a big personality.

Smooth vocals, with a decided edge. He played the hell out of the funky red organ, the same one with the B12 stickers that would be the signature of Serfers/Green on Red’s early sound. We would trade song lines, building on the other in an early call-and-response dub-like thing, like on John Cale’s version of “Heartbreak Hotel,” which we’d play for the man himself a year and a half later.

At first, the band, now called The Pedestrians, holed up in a little place off River Road. The scene itself was moving with us. Our friends, the B-Girls, would come around, really cool punk-rock girl gang. All sorts of people moving toward a beginning or an end—anything but “the middle.”

I remember Richard Hopkins had grown up in the same neighborhood, desert on all sides, subdivisions springing up like buffalo grass. Just another impression in them years, the un-victory of Vietnam, watching the Watergate hearings that summer.

Richard would come home from prep school and he had boxes and boxes of albums. We agreed on two words: Paul Kossoff—the kid guitarist from Free who died too young.

(Years later, Seger incorporated that same tone, that prowess.) Life’s a strange thing but majesty like that, it’s inexplicable, like Tucson, with all those lonely summers and weird trips down to Nogales, Mexico.

One night a friend banged on the door drunk with a large “Pedestrian” sign still connected to its post. He’d dug it out of the ground at a large intersection on Speedway.

We followed with a wave of arty fliers to promote our first gig. This one was important to us, we were coming out for our friends. The show was at Chris’ mom’s house on Fifth Street. She’s a really sweet lady, all kids revered her, so it felt really comfortable there, and just before we played our first set, I remember being gathered in Chris’ old room with his records and I can still remember some of the titles and figuring Chris out through them: Stranglers, UK-Subs, 999, Squeeze, and, of course, The Velvet Underground.

Brian Smith, Lee Joseph and Cliff Green of The Suspects were there, Mosey and Mary Ordinary, lots of friends, it was a who’s-who. Glen, Luke, Jack Waterson, and Johnny Glue. The house was full of all the girls and guys who were in a band or putting one together.

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MUSIC

COWBOY PUNK

“The Whole Enchilada” traces the story of Tucson rock from the ’70s through the ’90s

By Jeff Gardner jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com AS IT TURNS OUT, THE STORY OF Tucson rock is filled with so many twists and characters that it couldn’t possibly be summed up in one record — or even three, for that matter. “The Whole Enchilada: The History of Desert Rock” is a multimedia project that follows Tucson’s music landscape from 1978 to 1994, featuring the music and stories from those who lived it. “The Whole Enchilada” is a 3-LP compilation, accompanied by a book as well as a documentary. The whole project will be released with live music, screenings and more at Hotel Congress on Saturday, April 16.

The compilation traces the emergence of Tucson’s desert rock scene: that warm, energetic, sometimes humorous borderlands concoction that sprouted when punk rock crashed into the existing cowboy music of Arizona. But every song on the compilation

is not strictly that desert rock mixture. Across the three records, you can hear the scene form, from acoustic country music in the beginning to more post-punk sounds in the ’80s to indie rock in the ’90s. But it all sounds unquestionably Tucsonan.

“It wasn’t originally going to be a 3-LP album, but as we got into it, I realized there were so many good bands here,” said producer Rich Hopkins. “And I couldn’t even include all the bands I wanted to. I had to leave some people off, but what could I do? And the book is for if you’re going to be listening to all these bands, you better know who they are and what they went through, because Tucson has such a neat history.”

Hopkins has played guitar in multiple Tucson bands, including The Sidewinders (later the Sand Rubies) and Rich Hopkins & the Luminarios. He has been involved in multiple compilations of Tucson music in the past, but never one on this scale. He says he’s had the idea for years, and the pandemic spurred him into action.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE LIND

Bob Meighan, whose music is featured on “The Whole Enchilada” supporting the band Little Feat at the Phoenix Giants Stadium in 1973.

“We weren’t playing and everything was up in the air, and it seemed like a good time to do something a little different. Especially because some of the people were getting older,” Hopkins said. “It just seemed like the right time.”

The compilation features the likes of Howe Gelb, The Sidewinders, Chuck Wagon and the Wheels, River Roses, The Pedestrians, Dusty Chaps and many more.

While much of the music sounds like the Sonoran Desert, it also depicts the area, from lyrics about the desert’s beauty and specific Tucson locations, to a cocaine bust in Hermosillo.

The songs range from reflective solo performances of just a guitar and voice, to extended noisy jams one might hear spilling out of a dive bar somewhere off Broadway.

Hopkins says the years of the album, ’78 through ’94, begin with the time he became interested in live music in Tucson, and end “because we had to wrap it up at some point.”

It’s a love letter to the many sides of Tucson music, but perhaps more specifically, it’s a celebration of an era of desert punks that has never been fully captured. The compilation was released by Hopkins’ San Jacinto Records.

Many of the musicians on the compilation are also featured on the adjoining documentary, which will be screening throughout the release show. Directed by Maggie Rawling Smith, “The Whole Enchilada” documentary interviews Tucson musicians about the formation and trajectory of the desert rock sound.

“We wanted to shine a light on bands that had never made it out of the Tucson scene, but were still groundbreaking in desert rock, which had gone on to influence a lot of other people,” Smith said. “A lot of this music had never been heard outside of this region.”

According to Smith, much of the history of the scene is not well archived on the internet.

This made the documentary, records and book all the more critical, especially as some of the key figures passed away while the project was being compiled, such as musician Ned Sutton and Jo Tamez, who co-owned the Record Room on Fourth Avenue.

“It was really important to do at this time, because there were a number of the old guard who were getting sick or on their last leg, so they could see one more resurgence of the music. And with that I realized we should get archival footage of all these people,” Smith said. “I tried to do the old guard first, to get a feeling of what the scene was like before the punks came. And then how they viewed the scene 10 years before and 10 years after… Fortunately, there were people with really good historical heads on their shoulders.”

The documentary, filmed throughout the pandemic, features individual interviews as well as scenes where former bandmates interact. Musicians like Billy Sedlmayr, Dave Slutes and Suzie Evans describe the music of the era, but also the locations in Tucson that helped birth it. As Gelb describes in the documentary, downtown Tucson was basically a ghost town in those days, which turned out to be a benefit for some of the musicians.

“It certainly gave people an opportunity,” Hopkins said. “The punk rock scene had a chance to flourish because they could play at these down-and-out places and create their own scene. There were opportunities for bands to play, because it was kind of dead downtown.”

As part of gathering reminiscences for the documentary, Smith also reached out to the “Remembering Tucson” Facebook group.

She said there was an outpouring of support in the form of photos and stories of Tucson

APRIL 7, 2022

The Whole Enchilada release show 3 LP compilation, book, and documentary A benefit for the Casa Maria Soup Kitchen At Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Saturday, April 16 3:30 p.m. doors / 4 p.m. show $18 adv / $20 day of show

in the ’70s and ’80s.

“Everybody I interviewed had something extremely endearing about them. Whether they went all around the world with their music, or never left. There’s something magical about this period of time and scene that absolutely changed every person involved.

It was so powerful and moving,” Smith said.

“There was also a sense of gratitude about archiving it and taking it seriously. As a filmmaker, you don’t often have the kind of instant gratification where even before people saw it, they were glad you were interviewing them.”

When “The Whole Enchilada” documentary screened at the Tucson Film & Music Festival, Smith says some of the attendees hadn’t seen each other in 30 years or more.

“There were tears,” Smith said. “It was a really rewarding project to be a part of.”

THE PEDESTRIANS

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My girlfriend Andrea Curtis who later was in Ménage à Trois with Susie Wrenn and Jefferson Keating.

It was very much like, if you had the idea, hell, the physical next steps, hauling equipment, practicing, getting a sound, paying to play, all that shit was checked in the blink of an eye—the next big thing, just like The Dictators had predicted three or four years earlier.

There was always idea-guys or gals that had rap for days, couldn’t play a lick. The posers were busy, they always are. Those were the cats, you know, the “dangerous” type, the first ones with wicked B.O., a mustache, a mini bike and a pack of mom’s Doral’s.

We played two sets and everybody was down but those few hippies holding onto that California Jam. But soon enough, even those time-indentured pyramids of rock & roll would begin to fall. There would always be boring people in the middle thrilled with the next 10-minute guitar solo, just the same old song-and-dance, and everybody knew it. It was played out.

“The Whole Enchilada” book works as a kind of extended liner notes for the records.

There are full essays and photos dedicated to every band whose music is featured. Oftentimes, the essays will be in the musicians’ own words, recollecting the music biz, the desert cadre, stifling garage shows, and plenty of unchanged street names. The book was edited by Tucson Weekly columnist Brian Smith.

The 70-page paperback book opens with lyrics from Tucson rock band Fish Karma’s 1992 song “Sunnyslope,” which works as a kind of humorous summation for the entire scene: “My generation came of age in the ’70s, but that did not preclude us from aping the youth culture of the ’60s, devoid of any understanding or context.”

At the end of memories and images of the scene, the book fittingly includes an in memoriam page of musical vanguards. A few of them passed back in the ’80s and ’90s, but most were in the last 10 years, including multiple in 2021. This just shows that for capturing the story and the essence of Tucson rock, it may have been now or never.

“Every town has its own flavor, and this is Tucson’s,” Hopkins said. “People went out there with a guitar and made some noise in the desert.” ■ The essence of rock & roll went back to the blues: Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy, Elmore James, across the river to Jerry the Killer Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, all those Sun Records cats, Elvis. In the end, everything came down to a three-minute song, and if you could not fit it in, say what you needed to say, you might as well be dead.

In early ’79, two Italian cats from New York knocked on our door while we was practicing. “Impressed,” they said. They’d watched Max’s Kansas City and CBGB create a place for a culture to happen.

Anyhow, within days they found a place for us to gig downtown, Pearl’s Hurricane Bar on 92 E. Broadway.

Owner Pearl was a gal well past her prime, running cut-rate booze for thirdrate customers short on cash and long on being tossed out of The Manhattan or The Esquire. (In those days, a hard thing to do.)

Just west of the flop house, stuck in the city’s strip of Kresge’s, the canary-yellow porn joint for stag films, dirty books and dirtier cushions, the Greyhound station with its pay-toilets for the tecatos waiting on a vein to rise.

Janssen Research & Development, LLC Patient Poster, 31 Mar 2020 [V01 USA(en)]

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and You may be eligible to participate if you: effectiveness of an investigational medicine in people • are 18–74 years of age • have beenproblems. diagnosed with depression who have depression with sleep

• have taken antidepressants in the past that did not work wel clinical research is now enrolling eligiblebut adults.

• Aare currently taking study an antidepressant medication still h

You may be eligible to participate if you: The purpose of study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness symptoms ofthis depression an investigational medicine in people who have depression with difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, or do not fee • ofhave • Are 18-74 years of age sleep problems. the next day.

• Have been diagnosed with depression You may be eligible to participate if you: If •you interested, additional eligibility criteria will be asses areare 18–74 years of age • Have taken antidepressants in the past that did not • have diagnosed with depression the studybeen doctor or staff.

• have taken antidepressants in the past that did not work well for you work well for you If •you the study, youantidepressant will be in it medication for aboutbut 32still weeks. arejoin currently taking an have If you • Are currently taking an antidepressant medication study early, you will be asked to completebut the early withdrawa symptoms of depression • have falling asleep staying asleep, or do not feel rested to difficulty the study center fororadditional assessments. still have symptoms ofcome depression the next day.

Qualified patients may receive study-related medical care and • Have difficulty falling asleep staying asleep, or do If you are or interested, additional eligibility criteria will be assessed by investigational the study doctorstudy or staff.medication at no cost. The study will not p not feel rested the next day other medical care or current medication(s) needed to suppor If you join the study, you will be in it for about 32 weeks. If you stop the

daily care studyhealth early, you willroutine. be asked to complete the early withdrawal visit and

come to the study center for additional assessments.

If you are interested, additional eligibility criteria will bestudy, ToQualified learn more this study-related clinical research patientsabout may receive medical care and assessed by the study doctor or staff. investigational study medication at no cost. The study will not pay for

Please visit: other medical care or current medication(s) needed to support your ordaily health care routine.

Qualified patients may receive study-related medical You the this site clinical at: To may learn contact more about research study, care and investigational study medication at no cost.

Please visit: The study will not pay foror other medical care or current medication(s) needed to You support your health care may contact the sitedaily at: routine.

To learn more about this clinical research study, You may contact the site at: SW Biomedical Research, LLC 5160 E. Glenn, #100 Tucson, AZ 85712 (520) 750-0861 bpsyresearch@aol.com

Janssen Research & Development, LLC Patient Poster, 31 Mar 2020 [V01 USA(en)]

8 RESEARCH STUDY

RESEARCH STUDY

8

18

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

APRIL 7, 2022

By Xavier Omar Otero tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com

MARK YOUR CALENDARS… THURSDAY, APRIL 7 Her collaborations with a diversity of noted artists, from Alicia Keys and Bono to Philip Glass (alongside her tireless advocacy for women and children across Africa) have led to this four-time Grammy Award winner to be recognized by some as the “Queen of African Music.” Arizona Arts Live presents An Evening With Angélique Kidjo. At Rialto Theater… After drawing strong public backlash and industry censure following a string of incidents—an arrest for disorderly conduct after being ejected from Kid Rock’s Nashville steakhouse, a suspension from Saturday Night Live for not adhering to NBC’s COVID-19 protocols, and removal of his music from major radio networks

following TMZ releasing a video showing the embattled country singer making racial slurs—Morgan Wallen’s music surprisingly experienced a surge in commercial success.

Morgan Wallen co-headlines Country Thunder Arizona 2022 along with superstars Blake Shelton, Riley Green, Florida Georgia Line, Tracy Lawrence y un chingo mas. In Florence, Arizona. See countrythunder.com for full details… In 1964—while America was mourning the death of President John F. Kennedy—73 million viewers tuned in to watch a brash young quartet from Liverpool, The Beatles, make their American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Virtually overnight music, art, fashion, literature began to transform. Revisit the cultural phenomenon that re-directed the course of pop culture. The British Invasion.

At Fox Tucson Theatre… The Jed Paradies Quartet play bossa’s, ballads and blues into the dead of the Late Night. At The Century Room… The Fox Tucson Theatre presents Troubadour Thursdays. Parisian guitarist Naïm Amor will scatter bite sized pieces of musical confection at your favorite downtown eatery patios…

FRIDAY, APRIL 8

SATURDAY, APRIL 9

“Filthy Animal.” Incorporating elements of jungle and rave, trap and trance, producer Matthew Lucas’ fresh take on dubstep has become known by enthusiasts as space bass. Since teleporting onto the EDM scene in 2017 and plotting a course towards the final frontier, in short order bangers “Maniac” (2018) and “Babatunde” (2019) became festival anthems. Peekaboo. At Rialto Theater… Luis Navarro and Joel Niño Jr.’s latest offering, Altars (2021), is a collection of remixes by some of the hottest names in darkwave. Reminiscent of something from the past—awash with glassy synthesizers, echoey guitars and lyrics about the occult and undead—the new treatment still finds this Brownsville, Texas duo running from fantasmas, leaden with darker shadows Twin Tribes. At 191 Toole… “I wanted our orchestra to star in the last concert of the season, bringing to life two of the most magical compositions ever written.”

Maestro José Luis Gomez leads the Tucson Symphony Orchestra through a program featuring incidental music from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9. At Tucson Music Hall… “I am nobody but myself,” Japanese-born blues guitarist Hiro Suzuki tells Blues. After a long career touring the world as a sideman with a laundry list of artists (including a stint with Tucson legend Sam Taylor) Suzuki reflects on how his journey has influenced his worldview: “If everybody in the world are purely curious with no ego, war will disappear from this planet.”

Heather Hardy Band featuring Hiro Suzuki. At Monterey Court… Eli Howard & the Greater Good, Drew Cooper and Shane Britt form a country music triumvirate. At Club Congress… From Phoenix, this pop punk trio are aimlessly storming the country. Miles to Nowhere. Punk Rock Show.

At Chicago Bar. Tucson rude boys Sucker For The Sour open… Drummer/bandleader/ educator Pete Swan ran one of the longest running jam sessions at Old Pueblo Grill for over 13 years. A Tucson jazz institution, The Pete Swan Quartet performs Late Night.

At The Century Room… Utilizing handbuilt didgeridoos, singing bowls, hulusis, guzhengs, harmoniums and more, sound healer Kennedy OneSelf guides the listener through lush symphonic orchestrations of resonant vibrations towards inner stillness where lasting peace resides. The Symphony of Serenity. At Solar Culture Gallery…

Is there something in the water down under? Rising star Australian DJ/producer Dom Dolla’s (né Dominic Matheson) distinct blend of house music has raised global consciousness following a succession of winning tracks: “Take It” (2018), “San Frandisco” (2019), and “Pump The Brakes” (2021). Matheson’s latest single “Strangers” (2022) is a collab with Australian indie/ electronic trio Mansionair. Dom Dolla. At Encore. Torren Foot open… “Our band loves each other. Hopefully, you will feel that way too when you come out to our shows, like family,” Olivia Reardon tells The Ark of Music. Recently the band was voted Best Musical Act (in TW’s Best of Tucson™ readers poll). Is it this kinship that resonates with audiences? A video from a live performance at Saint Charles Tavern seems to indicate so. On “Red Chevrolet”—a song recently entered into NPR’s Tiny Desk contest—as Reardon and crew vamp on an improvised line, “Tucson is a small-town feeling,” the audience joins in and sings along. Miss Olivia & the Interlopers. At 191 Toole. The Bird Lords open… Exploring his musical roots— inspired by the river music of the American South and Jamaican reggae, both intertwined on his family tree—“The Dreadlock Cowboy” Wain McFarlane brings his latest, That Was Then This Now (2020). At Monterey Court… Pitchfork proclaims this New Jersey sextet’s fifth studio album, Dodging Dues (2022), “an easeful tour of muscular riff-rock, noodly song suites, and curtsying pastoral folk.” Sounds about right. Cosmic indie jam band Garcia Peoples are at Hotel Congress (plaza stage)… Supporting Arizona talent, upstart La Tecla Récords presents a showcase of regional Latin artists: Reyes Baltazar, Los Lopez, David Haros, Ricardo Poblete y mucho más. At Club 4th Avenue…

The piano-driven Susan Artemis Quartet perform “Love Songs from the Dark Side of Lounge.” Late Night. At The Century Room… Every year when the Northern Hemisphere starts to tilt toward the sun, signaling the beginning of spring, so too does KMKR 99.9FM’s monthly concert series. Female Gaze, Kid Violet, Dogbreth, and Golden Boots perform sets outdoors on the Scott J. Kerr Memorial Stage. At Steinfeld Warehouse (courtyard)… VR Sex is the synth punk/death rock side project of Drab Majesty’s Andrew Clinco (aka Deb Demure). Adopting the appellation of Noel Skum (an anagram of Elon Musk), on

APRIL 7, 2022

Rough Dimension (2022), Clinco’s absurdist observations rail against (while at the same time holding fascination with) society’s blind alleys, where vanity, lust and the dark side of technology hold peril. VR Sex. At Club Congress…

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 Specializing in the music of the Benny Goodman Sextet (featuring early electric guitar hero, Charlie Christian), “Tucson’s ambassadors of the Swing Era,” The Wholly Cats Swing Club and Lynde Hunt Project reinvigorate that infectious foot-tapping rhythm. Tucson Lindy Exchange Afterparty.

At Hotel Congress Plaza…

TUESDAY, APRIL 12 Formed in Macon, Georgia (1969), this burgeoning band of brothers lived meagerly in a communal home, nicknamed the Hippie Crash Pad, where they subsisted largely on the benevolence of others. A roadie, Joseph “Red Dog” Campbell (a disabled Vietnam veteran), donated his monthly disability checks and the cook/owner of the H&H Soul Food Restaurant, “Mama Louise” Hudson, ran a tab when they ran short. In the barely integrated South, the band faced other obstacles. Hudson recalls, in One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band (St. Martin’s Press, 2014), “A lot of the white folk around here did not approve of them long-haired boys, or of them always having a black guy [drummer Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson] with them.” Undaunted, these Southern rock pioneers forged a strong brotherhood, spending countless hours rehearsing, tripping on psychedelics and hanging out in the Rose Hill Cemetery, where they wrote songs. Incorporating elements of jazz, blues, and country music, stirring up one “unholy gumbo,” the release of The Allman Brothers Band (1969) etched the template for the Southern rock genre.

Inspired by Big Band of Brothers’ acclaimed album A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band (2019), the live show features “Jaimoe” Johanson and stars Sammy Miller and The Congregation, with special guests Lamar Williams Jr and Drew Smithers. Big Band of Brothers: A celebration of the music of the Allman Brothers Band. At Fox Tucson Theatre… Can you hear the buzz? Fronted by 20-something

actors Dylan Minnette (Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why) and Braeden Lemasters (Amazon’s The Romanoffs), in 2017, these fresh-faced L.A. alt rockers’ debut single “Pleaser” created a viral sensation, soaring to No.2 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50 chart. Their first North American tour culminated with a spot at the prestigious South By Southwest music conference. Spring (2018), the band’s debut EP, was released on Atlantic Records literally weeks later. Wallows’ sophomore album, Tell Me That It’s Over (2022)—produced by Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Adele)—is a promising continuation where Nothing Happens (2019) left off. Wallows.

At Rialto Theater… Heather Hardy and the Dusty City Blues Band with special guest Hiro Suzuki perform outdoors. At Hotel Congress (plaza stage)… Aussie indie rockers Vacations perform indoors. At Club Congress…

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 Finding early inspiration in the work of N.W.A. and Public Enemy, it wasn’t until hearing The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (Def Jam, 1988) that Aaron Yates (aka Tech N9ne) began developing his signature style. At 17, he adopted his tag (Tech N9ne) after rapper Black Walt heard his breakneck flow—cramming 13 syllables or more in every second. “He said I sounded like an automatic weapon.” Now, over two decades deep into a career as an independent artist, Yates returns with Asin9ne (2021), his 23rd studio recording. Tech N9ne. At Rialto Theater… Industrial metalists REALIZE and Black Magnet are at Club Congress…

Channeling the soul and raw vocal power of Lucinda Williams and Dusty Springfield, Jennifer Westwood tells plainspoken stories of the human condition, diffused by the bluish cigarette-tinged light of one too many last calls. Jennifer Westwood & The Handsome Devils. At Monterey Court…

On the horizon… ZoSo: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience. April 14. At Rialto Theater… Testament. April 15. At Rialto Theater…

Until next week, XOXO…

THE PEDESTRIANS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

But for now, Michael and Mario had brokered a deal with four boys, just naive enough to believe in some kind of rock & roll heaven. So those first shows saw the crowds lined down the block and we was anointed in their spit and sweat, smoke that could choke an ashtray, as we screamed through that first summer.

The crowd in small waves, doing the “monkey the swim” dance or pogo-ing in convulsions on the floor, nothin’ was enough. The talent distributed into camps, The Suspects, Jeff Latowic bass guitar, leather jacket, switchblade and a heartbreak path to Hope Center. We’d be doing soundchecks and I’d watch him turn white as a sheet misplacing his methadone.

Lee Joseph with a record collection for a brain. The Model Patients with Diane and Scabby—and poor old Scabby, one of those kids lost to the Pacific on a cold dark night, a botched Vision Quest babysitting job while commandeering the public’s unwanted children.

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 19

Z9, singer Ariel Bagby, all of 16, her red hair and freckles still bring me to a smile, of course dead by now, she and her sister lived sometimes underneath the freeway.

Robin Johnson at 15 years old, a good guitarist with a bad palm reading. The dapper Rex Estell on drums.

But soon enough, something concrete was changing, if you saw the way crowds would act towards X at Tumbleweeds, The Talking Heads at Night Train.

So old Pearl enjoyed that summer when she’d make six times what she’d make in a season in one weekend with these comic-book kids and beautiful dope fiends, always dancin’ in and out of your life with cotton fever. Hector dressing up like James Dean and connecting all the dots before most anyone knew what time it was.

Remember, this was Tucson in the early days when the TV tapped out at 1 a.m.

The Pedestrians opened for Ramones that winter, we played in the wood-floored auditorium at the UA, and Tucson Citizen rock critic Chuck Graham wrote: “I’d hate to take a cheap shot but the Pedestrians were just that.” And he was right. ■

20

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

APRIL 7, 2022

THE RIGHT STUFF Social Equity applicant represents target demographics

By David Abbott tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com WHILE IT’S NOT EXACTLY THE denouement of the timeless classic Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the Arizona Department of Health Services will hand out its version of Golden Tickets at 1 p.m. on Friday when it holds a virtual, random lottery drawing for 26 social equity licenses that will be added to the 130 or so existing licenses throughout the state.

One person who will be closely watching the event will be Tyreese Williams, a Phoenix native who is in a partnership with TME Farms, LLC, doing business as Tree Junkee, one of two Black-owned cannabis

businesses in Tucson.

Williams and his partner, a former National Football League player who wishes to remain unnamed, have leased a portion of Moe Asnani’s Downtown Dispensary license, but if the gods of chance are on his side, Williams and his partner might soon be able to expand under the new license.

As an established business owner in the Arizona cannabis industry, he might not seem like he is in the target demographic for a SE license, but Williams embodies the spirit of the program as it is designed by Arizona statute.

“I fit the description for the social equity program,” Williams said. “I’m African American and on top of that I understand the rules and the laws on the medical side and the recreational side and my foot is in the door.”

Williams’ story began in 2011, when he was a linebacker for the Yuma Western Col-

lege football team with his current business partner.

His success on the gridiron was curtailed when he was busted for 1 gram of weed and the small baggie that held the weed was considered paraphernalia.

“It was literally one gram, but this was 2011 and [recreational] wasn’t legal yet,” Williams said. “I got three years of unsupervised probation, a $2,500 fine and I was ordered to take 16 hours of rehabilitation.”

He returned to his home, but struggled to make a living in one of the worst neighborhoods in Phoenix, an area known as “the Blade” near Interstate 17 and Indian School Road.

“I was fresh out of college, doing my own thing and to have to pay that type of fine?

I couldn’t really afford it,” he said. “So even the times that I had tried to get a job, they looked at my record and just seeing that I had a marijuana conviction.... It doesn’t say it was just one gram.”

In 2017, Williams and his partner joined forces and “decided to dive into the marijuana industry,” by opening what he said was the first approved cultivation facility in Yuma County.

In 2018, the pair decided to move on from the Yuma market and set up a facility in Tucson.

Williams’ partner put up most of the $1.8 million needed to open the 20,000 square foot cultivation facility and Williams acted as the general contractor, eventually opening TME Farms in 2019, leasing a portion of Asnani’s existing license.

While Williams is already established in the business, Tree Junkee is a very small operation compared to other behemoths in the state such as Mohave Cannabis Company or Harvest Health, which is owned

by Trulieve, one of the largest cannabis growers and distributors in the country.

“We’re still newcomers, but we’re keeping our heads above water for sure. It’s a little harder for us, compared to other people that came to the game with major backing,” he said. “A lot of these companies are able to come in and they have $10 million, $15 million, $20 million to just spend as they need. We’re scraping and scrounging just to stay afloat.”

But that could change on Friday when ADHS doles out licenses that could well be worth as much as $20 million when all is said and done.

The license would allow Tree Junkee to open its own dispensary and not have to pay for an outside license to grow.

Arizona’s social equity program was established by the passage of Proposition 207,

APRIL 7, 2022

which legalized adult-use recreational weed in 2020. The provision is intended to help right the wrongs of the decades long war on cannabis that has disproportionately affected communities of color throughout prohibition.

While much has been made of the particulars of the program and lawsuits have attempted to stop the process until the rules can be rewritten, ADHS is moving forward with the program as is.

Arizona is one of 15 states that have SE programs, including Massachusetts; California; New Jersey; New York; New Mexico; Michigan; Vermont; Illinois; Connecticut and Virginia. Colorado and Washington State are developing programs as well.

In January, New York governor Kathy Hochul announced a $200 million fund to get its program off the ground, but most states have conceded to capitalism and SE license holders are forced into an uneven playing field on open markets.

Since cannabis remains federally illegal, most applicants have limited to zero access to capital through banks and must rely on forming “partnerships” with wealthy entities or existing multi-state operators (MSOs).

Jon Udell, director of politics for Arizona NORML and cannabis attorney at Rose Law Group in Phoenix, said there are flaws in most SE programs, as there are many interpretations on what they are intended to do.

Rose Law represents a number of applicants, so Udell was only able to speak in generalities about the program.

“There’s a lot of ways people can reasonably disagree about what the program should do,” Udell said. “I tend to view the philosophical aspect of this thing as incredibly vague: There is no objective truth to what it should look like, so there’s room for differences of opinion.”

He added that how social equity programs are designed has a lot to do with what the outcomes are expected to be, but

COURTESY PHOTO

Tyreese Williams at TNE Farms (dba Tree Junkee)

short of public funding for them (affirmative action, in effect) there will always be someone deserving left out of the industry.

When the ultimate goal is to help lift communities out of poverty and make reparations for past punitive drug laws, programs can be designed to address economic disadvantage or racial inequality, dynamics that often overlap, particularly in communities of color.

In Arizona, social equity candidates must satisfy three of four requirements to qualify, including: an annual household income of less than 400% of poverty level in at least three of four years from 2016-2020; has been adversely affected by previous marijuana laws by way of conviction for the individual or a family member of the individual; or has lived for a least three years from 2016-2020 in one of 85 zip codes identified by ADHS as being disproportionately affected by the enforcement of Arizona’s previous marijuana laws.

Udell says that often when people think of social equity, it is related more to race than socio-economic status. Information

on the racial makeup of cannabis business owners is sparse, but the ACLU regularly reports on the disparity in drug-related arrests for Black Americans, who are more than four times as likely to be arrested for the drug than caucasians, according to “A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform.”

As far as business ownership in the state of Arizona, Williams says he believes nationwide only 4.3% of the businesses are Black-owned and in Tucson, Tree Junkee is one of only two. The other is GreenMed owner Murphy Kittrell, who recently sold the PurpleMed dispensary to Trulieve.

Udell sees social equity licenses as a way to “correct an historical injustice” that is crippling an entire population in the U.S. “The cannabis industry has an appalling lack of diversity,” he said. “It’s a sorry state of affairs when people of color are targeted at a rate that’s two to three times the arrests suffered by other folks, despite consuming at relatively comparable rates to white Americans.”

He believes that young Black people

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 21

seeing the disparity might be inclined to lose motivation to succeed or improve themselves economically.

“People draw a lot of conclusions about society based on what they see around them,” he said. “Those conclusions affect their motivation to try to give back to society and try to better themselves and improve themselves, which is what creates a better world for all of us.”

As far as Arizona’s social equity lottery goes, there were 1,500 applications submitted, but more than one-third of them came from MSOs in the state, including Mohave Cannabis Co., Copperstate in Snowflake and Mint Dispensaries.

For his part, Williams qualified on all four criteria, and should he get one of the licenses, has a good chance of success in the industry.

“Being in the business will definitely give me an upper hand, since I understand that from both sides,” he said. “If I win, I’m going to put it smack dead in the center of a minority area and I’m going to try my best to give as many jobs as possible to minorities.”

TME Farms’ primary product is Tree Junkee, a “boutique” flower grown with “love and TLC.” It can be found at Downtown or D2 dispensaries in Tucson, Green Farms Dispensary in Mesa and Flagstaff or Farm Fresh Dispensary, in Lake Havasu. Williams and his partner hope to soon distribute through Jars Dispensary and also begin offering extracts and edibles.

“Our slogan for our brand is Black owned and Black grown,” Williams concluded.

“Hopefully, the Lord decides to bless me. If not, I’m already blessed.”

The social equity drawing will be held at ADHS with industry and news media representatives witnessing and streamed live at azdhs.gov/live. The accounting and auditing firm Henry and Horne will oversee the drawing. ■

22

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

APRIL 7, 2022

TUCSON AREA DISPENSARIES Bloom Tucson. 4695 N. Oracle Road, Ste. 117 293-3315; bloomdispensary.com Open: Daily 9a.m. - 10p.m.

Botanica. 6205 N. Travel Center Drive 395-0230; botanica.us Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily Desert Bloom Re-Leaf Center. 8060 E. 22nd St., Ste. 108 886-1760; dbloomtucson.com Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily Offering delivery Downtown Dispensary. 221 E. 6th St., Ste. 105 838-0492; thedowntowndispensary.com Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily D2 Dispensary. 7105 E 22nd St. 214-3232; d2dispensary.com/ Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily Earth’s Healing. Two locations: North: 78 W. River Road 253-7198 South: 2075 E. Benson Highway 373-5779 earthshealing.org Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Offering delivery The Green Halo. 7710 S. Wilmot Road 664-2251; thegreenhalo.org Open: Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Hana Green Valley. 1732 W. Duval Commerce Point Place 289-8030 Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Harvest of Tucson . 2734 East Grant Road 314-9420; askme@harvestinc.com; Harvestofaz. com Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily Nature Med. 5390 W. Ina Road 620-9123; naturemedaz.com Open: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily The Prime Leaf Two locations: 4220 E. Speedway Blvd.

1525 N. Park Ave. 44-PRIME; theprimeleaf.com Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Purple Med Healing Center. 1010 S. Freeway, Ste. 130 398-7338; www.facebook.com/PurpleMedHealingCenter Open: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Southern Arizona Integrated Therapies. 112 S. Kolb Road 886-1003; medicalmarijuanaoftucson.com Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily

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SAVAGE LOVE ENTRANCE EXAM

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

I am a 29-year-old woman and I have a problem when I have sex or masturbate. I always feel an annoying pain, a stinging sensation in my vulva, at the entrance of the vagina, that does not allow me to enjoy it, as the pain is too overwhelming. Unfortunately, this situation has led me to avoid having sex or masturbating in order not to feel that pain. I have consulted several gynecologists, but no anomaly or infection of any kind has been found. With the last doctor we also talked about a possible psychological component but, apparently, even on this level everything seems normal. Do you or an expert have advice for someone with a problem like mine?

—Lost And Baffled Inside America “Vulvodynia, or pain in the vulva, is unfortunately very common, and it sucks,” said Dr. Rachel Gelman, a clinician, pelvic floor specialist and author based in San Francisco. “But there are a variety of treatment options and providers that could help LABIA out.”

Dr. Gelman says it’s good that you’ve already had infection ruled out as a possible cause. But there are lots of other things that could be going on—nerve irritation, inflammation, hormonal imbalance, something genetic—and she urges you not to give up until you find an answer. And while Dr. Gelman is too polite to say it, I’m an asshole, so I’m just gonna blurt it out: It’s shocking that not one of the gynecologists you consulted referred you to a pelvic floor specialist.

“The muscles inside the pelvis, aka the ‘pelvic floor,’ and the surrounding musculature can contribute to or cause the pain LABIA is describing,” said Dr. Gelman. “Just like tight muscles in the neck can cause pain in the shoulder, arm, or jaw, a tight muscle inside the pelvic floor can cause pain at the opening of the vagina. A pelvic floor physical therapist, like myself, would be able to assess and treat this kind of muscle dysfunction, which would decrease LABIA’s

symptoms and get her back to enjoying sex again.”

But don’t stop at just getting a referral to a pelvic floor specialist. “Due to the fact that so many systems live inside the pelvis which impact the vulva, several specialists may be needed to investigate and treat the potential causes of LABIA’s pain,” said Dr. Gelman. So, in addition to seeing a pelvic floor specialist, Dr. Gelman recommends you consult with a vulvar specialist. (You can find a list of vulvar specialists at the website of the National Vulvodynia Association: go to www.nva.org, and click on the link to their “health care provider list.”)

“A vulvar specialist would be able to perform appropriate tests to tease out what is going on beyond what a general gynecologist may look at,” said Dr. Gelman. “And it’s important to note that the tissue around the vaginal opening is highly dependent on hormones to stay happy and healthy.

Certain medications or medical conditions can impact hormone levels, which can in turn impact vulvar tissues and lead to pain.

There are also underlying inflammatory conditions that could also be causing this pain.”

And even if you don’t have an underlying mental health or psychological condition, LABIA, the pain you’ve suffered—along with the resulting sexual deprivation— sounds like a lot, and talking about it with someone could help you reconnect more quickly with your ability to take pleasure in this part of your body again.

“The brain is powerful and having vulvar pain or any kind of sexual dysfunction can be mentally draining which can further exacerbate pain,” said Dr. Gelman. “So, a good sex therapist may also be a helpful ally here.

Bottomline, vulvar pain is common and typically requires a team of providers—but help is out there.”

Find Dr. Rachel Gelman online at www. pelvicwellpt.com and on Instagram @ PelvicHealthSF.

I’m a young gay man who needs to break up with his boyfriend. I know it, my friends all agree, I even think it’s what he wants. I’ll spare you the messy details. I just need a push. Maybe if you tell me to do, Dan, I’ll do it.

—Just Another Word Marry him.

I’m a man in his 30s in Boston. I just got ghosted and want some advice on how to handle it. I matched with a woman online, also in her 30s, and the conversation seemed good and we agreed to meet for a drink. On the day of our planned date, I get a text saying, “Hey, I’m having a really bad day and I don’t want that to be your first impression of me, can we reschedule?” That seemed reasonable, so I agreed. Later in the week I asked what she is up to on the weekend. I didn’t get a response until late Sunday: “I thought I replied, I’m so sorry!” I took her at her word that it was a mistake, and we rescheduled drinks. The afternoon before our rescheduled date for drinks, I texted to confirm where and when we were meeting.

We agreed to meet at 7 p.m. At 6:40 p.m., I got a text from her number: “This is Boston EMS. Gertrude wanted us to let you know she won’t make it to the date.” I responded promptly, asking the paramedic what happened and if Gertrude (not her real name) was alright, and the paramedic replied that she was fine and actually more worried about me than herself. In the evening I get a text from Gertrude saying, “OMG! I’m so embarrassed! I’m so sorry!” She explained she had a seizure. I texted her the following day to ask how she’s feeling, but received no answer.

Here is my conundrum. I have no way of knowing for sure if both situations were out of her control (her bad day, her seizure) and she’s too embarrassed to answer my texts right now or if she stood me up twice in really shitty ways and used a health crisis as an excuse the second time. I would love to hear your feedback. I have enclosed screenshots of our text messages for your review.

—Blatant Lies Or Constant Kerfuffles

Hm. The text messages Gertrude sent you were far less interesting—and far less revealing—than the tiny photo of Gertrude at the top of them. The woman in the photo is conventionally attractive (extremely so: thin, toothy, blond, skinny), and she looks more like a teenage girl than a woman in her 30s. (Indeed, a Google image search on the picture didn’t find a match, but all the “very similar images” that came up were of teenage girls.) So, I’m gonna climb out on a very short and very sturdy limb here, BLOCK, and tell you that the person in the photo isn’t the person you’ve been messaging with. That’s why Gertrude keeps making excuses to call off your dates—increasingly ludicrous excuses.

I mean, take this paramedic nonsense.

Dude. If Gertrude was able to hand her phone to a paramedic and ask that paramedic to find one particular guy in her contacts and then send that one particular guy a message cancelling a date… then Gertrude was well enough to send you that message herself. And even if sending text messages and cancelling dates were services paramedics provided—and they’re not—asking a paramedic to let a date know you’re having a seizure isn’t something a person having a seizure can do because that person is having a seizure.

So, yeah. The problem here is not that Gertrude is too embarrassed to respond to your text messages about finally getting together for that drink, BLOCK, it’s that Gertrude is too non-existent to ever show up for that drink. You most likely won’t hear from her again, but if you do, it’ll be a request for money. I shouldn’t have to say, “Don’t’ send her money,” but I’m going to say it just in case you’re really as gullible as your letter makes you seem: don’t send her money. questions@savagelove.net Listen to Dan on the Savage Lovecast.

Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.

Columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at www.savage.love.

APRIL 7, 2022

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

By Rob Brezsny. Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY HOROSCOPE 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 $1.99 per minute. 18 and over. Touchtone phone required.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): To provide the right horoscope, I must introduce you to three new words. The first is “orphic,” defined as “having an importance or meaning not apparent to the senses nor comprehensible to the intellect; beyond ordinary understanding.” Here’s the second word: “ludic,” which means “playful; full of fun and high spirits.” The third word is “kalon,” which refers to “profound, thorough beauty.” Now I will coordinate those terms to create a prophecy in accordance with your astrological aspects. Ready? I predict you will generate useful inspirations and energizing transformations for yourself by adopting a ludic attitude as you seek kalon in orphic experiments and adventures.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I love your steadfastness, intense effort and stubborn insistence on doing what’s right. Your ability to stick to the plan even when chaos creeps in is admirable. But during the coming weeks, I suggest you add a nuance to your approach. Heed the advice of martial artist Bruce Lee: “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini-born basketball coach Pat Summitt won Olympic medals, college championships, and presidential awards. She had a simple strategy: “Here’s how I’m going to beat you.

I’m going to outwork you. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.” I recommend that you apply her approach to everything you do for the rest of 2022. According to my analysis, you’re on course for a series of satisfying victories. All you have to do is nurture your stamina as you work with unwavering focus and resilient intelligence.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In Britain, 70 percent of the land is owned by 1 percent of the population. Globally, 1 percent of the population owns 43 percent of the wealth.

I hope there’s a much better distribution of resources within your own life. I hope that the poorer, less robust parts of your psyche aren’t being starved at the expense of the privileged and highly functioning aspects.

I hope that the allies and animals you tend to take for granted are receiving as much of your love and care as the people you’re trying to impress or win over. If any adjustments are necessary, now is a favorable time to make them.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): TV show creator Joey Soloway says, “The only way things will change is when we’re all wilder, louder, riskier, sillier, and unexpectedly overflow-

ing with surprise.” Soloway’s Emmy Awardwinning work on Transparent, one of the world’s first transgender-positive shows, suggests that their formula has been effective for them. I’m recommending this same approach to you in the coming weeks, Leo. It will help you summon the extra courage and imagination you will need to catalyze the necessary corrections and adjustments.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain,” wrote mythologist Joseph Campbell. I don’t think his cure is foolproof. The lingering effects of some old traumas aren’t so simple and easy to dissolve. But I suspect Campbell’s strategy will work well for you in the coming weeks.

You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when extra healing powers are available.

Some are obvious, and some are still partially hidden. It will be your sacred duty to track down every possible method that could help you banish at least some of your suffering and restore at least some of your joie de vivre.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You know who Jimi Hendrix was, right? He was a brilliant and influential rock guitarist. As for Miles Davis, he was a Hall of Fame-level trumpeter and composer. You may be less familiar with Tony Williams. A prominent rock critic once called him “the best drummer in the world.” In 1968, those three superstars gathered in the hope of recording an album. But they wanted to include a fourth musician, Paul McCartney, to play bass for them. They sent a telegram to the ex-Beatle, but it never reached him. And so the supergroup never happened. I mention this in the hope that it will render you extra alert for invitations and opportunities that arrive in the coming weeks—perhaps out of nowhere. Don’t miss out! Expect the unexpected. Read between the lines. Investigate the cracks.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Poet Anne Carson claims that “a page with a poem on it is less attractive than a page with a poem on it and some tea stains.” I agree. If there are tea stains, it probably means that the poem has been studied and enjoyed.

Someone has lingered over it, allowing it to thoroughly permeate their consciousness. I propose we make the tea-stained poem your power metaphor for the coming weeks, Scorpio. In other words, shun the pristine, the spotless, the untouched.

Commune with messy, even chaotic things that have been loved and used.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian author Martha Beck articulated the precise message you need to hear right now. She

wrote, “Here is the crux of the matter, the distilled essence, the only thing you need to remember: When considering whether to say yes or no, you must choose the response that feels like freedom. Period.”

I hope you adopt her law in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. You should avoid responses and influences that don’t feel liberating. I realize that’s an extreme position to take, but I think it’s the right one for now.

Where does your greatest freedom lie?

How can you claim it? What shifts might you need to initiate?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I’m glad you have been exploring your past and reconfiguring your remembrances of the old days and old ways. I’m happy you’ve been transforming the story of your life. I love how you’ve given yourself a healing gift by reimagining your history. It’s fine with me if you keep doing this fun stuff for a while longer. But please also make sure you don’t get so immersed in bygone events that you’re weighed down by them. The whole point of the good work you’ve been doing is to open up your future possibilities. For inspiration, read this advice from author Milan Kundera: “We must never allow the future to collapse under the burden of memory.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian historian Mary Frances Berry offered counsel that I think all Aquarians should keep at the heart of their philosophy during the coming weeks. She wrote, “The time when you need to do something is when no one

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else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can’t be done.” I hope you trust yourself enough to make that your battle cry. I hope you will keep summoning all the courage you will regularly need to implement its mandate.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What’s the leading cause of deforestation in Latin America? Logging for wood products?

Agricultural expansion? New housing developments? Nope. It’s raising cattle so people everywhere can eat beef and cheese and milk. This industry also plays a major role in the rest of the world’s ongoing deforestation tragedy. Soaring greenhouse gas emissions aren’t entirely caused by our craving for burgers and milk and cheese, of course, but our climate emergency would be significantly less dramatic if we cut back our consumption. That’s the kind of action I invite you to take in the coming months, Pisces. My analysis of astrological omens suggests that you now have even more power than usual to serve the collective good of humanity in whatever specific ways you can. (PS: Livestock generates 14.5 percent of our greenhouse gases, equal to the emissions from all cars, trucks, airplanes, and ships combined.)

Homework: What’s the biggest good change you could imagine making in your life right now? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

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5 “Office-inappropriate” tag 9 1:15 or 1:30, e.g.

13 Part of a comparison 14 Its motto is “Fiat lux” 15 Part of a guitar 16 *Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur 18 “If you come to ___ not understanding who you are, it will define who you are”: Oprah Winfrey 19 H.S. class 20 Regarding this matter 22 Trick 23 Rolls follower 25 *The wolf in “Peter and the Wolf” 27 ___ People’s Democratic Republic 29 Goddess whose name means “lovely” 30 Airport aprons 34 Representation 35 Simple recipe instruction … or a hint to the answers to the four starred clues 37 Measures of cellular strength 38 Counters 39 She met her husband Frank after beating him in a shooting match 41 Not just “a” 42 *Cape Cod retreats 46 It’s famous for doing the floss 50 ___ canto 1

Actor Jeremy of “The Hurt Locker” 53 “The ___ of Pooh” 54 City on the Rhône 56 *Last possible second 58 Formerly, once 59 Its motto is “Lux et veritas” 60 Make binding, in a way 61 Meeting, informally 62 Feels crummy 63 Not just smart 51

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[Not shown here] 2 It has Javan and Sumatran varieties 3 Like Hammer pants 4 Show that spawned “Wayne’s World,” in brief 5 Wearing just a smile, say 6 Accessory for a soccer fan 7 Philadelphia athlete 8 Eggshells and coffee grounds, typically 9 Switch position 10 Some street fights?

11 Soul sucker in the Harry Potter books 12 Western hat 17 Start of some souvenir shirt slogans 21 Small bill 24 Like works of Shakespeare or Frank Sinatra 26 Varmint 28 Ilhan in Congress 1

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